The Pecan Park Eagle

Babies Drop Two at George Ranch

October 27, 2013

Blind Toms and Vintage Teams Play Ball in the Noon Day Sun!

The Houston Babies (0-2) dropped both games they played today at George Ranch, losing 9-5 and 5-2 to the Katy Combine in a DH dose of shellac. By the time a fresh version of the Boerne White Sox finally arrived from their abode near San Antonio, the Babies were done for the day, but Katy managed to patch together enough of a lineup to take them on in a single game. Boerne (1-0) blasted the worn out Katy (2-1) nine, 8-0, to become the only club on the day with a perfect record.

The Publisher, Editor, Writer, and Chief Bottle Washer of the Pecan Park Eagle was a little under the weather and unable to attend today’s festivities, but our crack field reporter and beat writer, Mike McCroskey, who also bore the double-duty job of filling in for our cruising Babies mentor, Bob Dorrill, as the Babies Manager of the Day took us on as well. Do you think the Yankees ever could have gotten Joe Torre to both manage their club and write up the game stories too?

Thanks for all you do, Mr. McCroskey; you are a one in a million friend and fan of the grand old game.

Ladies and Gentlemen, settle back and enjoy our star reporter’s festival and game day report from George Ranch on Saturday, October 26, 2013. By the way, Mr. McCroskey also took the pictures used here. All I did was the title and Photoshop work on the photos and the mechanical work of posting this wonderful (but also sad because we lost, but that’s baseball for you) report:

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HOUSTON BABIES DROP DH WITH KATY COMBINE; BOERNE WHITE SOX TAKE SINGLE GAME WITH KATY.

BY Mike McCroskey, Special Reporter for The Pecan Park Eagle

On a cool, crisp autumn day with a bright blue sunshine-filled sky overhead clustered with billowy white clouds, weather reminiscent of when the World Series games were played during the day, Texian days at the George Ranch welcomed Vintage baseball with a day made for baseball. The Katy Combine and Houston Babies squared off at 10:00 A.M. to the delight of record attendance crowds. The Babies, managed by first time manager Mike McCroskey, subbing for the vacationing Bob Dorill (somewhere upon a sea in the North Atlantic) were a little short-handed as many of the regulars failed to show. However, many eager cranks got their first chance to experience the thrill of vintage baseball as a result. The first call for volunteers found no shortage of willing participants. The game day began, as game days should: Both teams in the field, a short prayer remembering missing Departed Houston Baby, Larry Joe Miggins; and thanking our veterans. Then both teams came together in a group on the field, singing the Star Spangled Banner prior to the first pitch.

Bill Hale (far left) is a veteran Babies player in our George Ranch Field of Dreams.

Brian Ketchum of Fort Worth, Texas started in center field and led off the Babies bottom of the first with a hit., later coming around to score the game’s first run on a solid double by Shortstop Mark Hudec. He was joined by newcomer Tim Murphy, a guest of pitcher Bill Hale. Tim started the game in left field and singled in his first at bat in the second inning, coming around to score on a 2 rbi single by Babies septuagenarian second baseman, Phil Holland.

The Katy Combine, however, were the masters of the big inning, scoring 7 runs in the second inning, which proved to be decisive in what ended in a 9-5 Katy victory. Ira Liebman of the Sugar Land Skeeters, also, debuted in this game at first base, making several spectacular hustle plays after overcoming some early inning jitters. We, also, had a couple of Katy players filling in for the Babies in the outfield, scoring one of the Babies’ runs. And speaking of good fielding, the Babies turned not one , but two 6-4-3 double plays in what turned into a late inning defensive battle.

Vintage Ball is Our Reminder that Baseball is Forever.

Tom Hull led the Katy Combine, scoring a run in all 3 of his at bats in the 5 inning game. His 10-year old daughter, Gracie, pinch ran for McCroskey in a failed pinch hit appearance. Speedy Meghan McCroskey was absent this day due to excessive homecoming week commitments.

Game 2, found the Babies short a couple of more players. Brent Hopkins of Pearland started at shortstop, and his 10-year old son Blake started in the outfield. Young Blake got on base twice and scored one of the Babies 2 runs. Tim Mahoney played his second game in the outfield, and Alex Jimenez, literally walked on to the field and reached base in each of his 2 at bats in this quickly played 5 inning game. Gracie Hull started in left field and played the entire game.

The Combine were again the masters of the big inning, scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the first which held up for a 5-2 victory. Tom Flores led the Combine with a pair of hits in his only 2 at bats, scoring the first run in the big 5 run first. The first of the Boerne White Sox players began showing up in the middle of this game.

The horizons of baseball are always a possible reach in our sandlot brains. All it takes to get there is the long ball of never giving up on your dreams.

By this time, players had worked up quite an appetite, and the George Ranch treated all to a delicious home-made chili and Frito dish that was eagerly consumed by most. Seconds were had by many and more of the Babies left. However, the rest of the Boerne White Sox arrived and game 3 of the set was soon underway. It was agreed that this would be a 7 inning affair as it was the last game of the day. Babies first baseman, Ira Liebman, started at 3rd for the Combine as they were one man short at game time.

We don’t care if we never get back!

The White Sox had come a long way to play and were on their game this afternoon. The chili laden Combine could not get it going against the Boerne nine, who repeatedly made sparkling fielding plays in what resulted in an 8-0 shutout win for the Sox. Several players had pulled muscles, and little Gracie Hull made about 8 pinch running appearances in this game, never once reaching first. She did, however, score a run after going in to pinch run for a Boerne player at third base.
The ultimate, “rub salt in your wound” play came on the game’s final at bat. Combine third baseman Dave Flores hit a sharp grounder back to the Boerne pitcher known as Sparty. Sparty had pulled a hamstring muscle earlier and Gracie had run for him in his last 3 at bats. Anyway, this time, Sparty fielded the ball, and then hopped, one-legged, to first base for an unassisted putout on Dave, as the cranks and teams, oohed, awwed, and laughed!

Quite an “in-your-face” ending; and quite a day for vintage baseball.

Vintage Base Ball: It’s the place where art and science, faith and fact, all come together. It is also the childhood fire in your heart that never left you, even when your childhood did.

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“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”

Tags: Houston Babies, Vintage Base Ball
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Once Upon a No-Tsu-Oh Time

October 26, 2013

Miss Ima Hogg and friends ready themselves for the big No-Tsu-Oh carnival parade during one of the years of the early 20th century annual Houston dip into community fun.

Back in 1899, as Houston churned toward its plans to celebrate the end of one century and the beginning of another, a local social group known as the Houston Houndz came up with an idea for a week-long carnival, one modeled after Mardi Gras in New Orleans. They called it No-Tsu-Oh (Houston spelled backwards) – and it came complete with plans to crown a reining carnival ruler to be known as King Nottoc (cotton spelled backwards).

Theses silly carnival name-christening plans apparently came across to Houstonians of that era as stupid as they still sound today. People didn’t like it, and they stayed away in droves, at first, from offering their support.

As 1900 drew near, however, the appeal of a week-long party won out over any objections to its identity wrappings, proving once again the truth of that ancient adage: “It doesn’t matter what it looks, feels, sounds, or smells like – as long as it tastes good.” And No-Tsu-Oh tasted so good to Houstonians that they kept on celebrating it annually through about 1918, when the United States entered World War One. After the war, it never resumed. Houston had changed and moved on into the robust working, growing, entrepreneurial city that it needed to be beyond any needs to stop and smell the roses as the center point of community life, as they ubiquitously do in New Orleans.

Another old expression evolved as the standard for comparing the cities of New Orleans and Houston by the middle of the 20th century: About New Orleans, the wisdom grew that most people there work to live. In Houston, however, where so many people are corporate transfers; they live to work.

As an independent Houstonian who absorbed a large part of his graduate school time and practical life experience as a student of Tulane and an everyday New Orleans resident, I would express the difference between life in the two cities in this way: In New Orleans, people don’t just stop to smell the roses. They stop to become full-time gardeners. In Houston, however, most people who do stop to smell the roses are more often awakened to the potential for selling roses themselves at a cheaper market price.

It’s Saturday. Have fun.

And while you are getting ready for the day, here’s an early turn of the 20th century story from the Brownsville Daily Herald of October 30, 1905 about one of the early No-Tsu-Oh festival plans:

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WEEK OF FUN

FOUR GORGEOUS PARADES IN SIX DAYS

SPECTACULAR DISPLAYS – HORSE RACES EVERY DAY

FINE SOWS AND CONFETTI ON THE HIKE ALONG

A week of frolic. Here is the place to have it. The carnival that made Houston famous is No-Tsu-Oh. and this year the biggest festival ever known in Texas has been planned.

The No-Tsu-Oh carnival has no object but to spread mirth. It does not mix this with any exhibition that savors of dullness. There is fun of every kind, fun for everybody, wholesome, unshackled, untainted, sparkling fun. The carnival of 1905 begins November 13 and continues the rough the night of November 18.

Horse races every day of the No-Tsu-Oh carnival is a new and big feature this year. Some of the best racers of the country will be on the Houston track. There will be running, trotting and pacing races.A feast is in store for the lovers of this, the most inspiring of all the sports. Every facility has been provided to accommodate the crowd at the race track, and some novelties wiil be put in to make the Houston races lead all others in point of interest.

The “Hike-Along” this year will resemble the Pikeaway of last year, though a superior lot of shows have been secured. This will be the fun center; about it will rotate about all the frolicking that can be put into one week.

The triumphal entry of King Nottoc to the city of No-Tsu-Oh will occur Monday morning of carnival week amid the ringing of bells, the sound of whistles and the firing of guns. There will be mpunted march of the gayly decorated knights and princes of Saxet from all the realm of Tekram.

(Editorial Note: I’m assuming you picked it up. – Saxet is backwards for Texas; Tekram is backwards for market. Those folks really got carried away in the celebration of their own, uh … cleverness.)

In spectacular effect and scenic magnificence, the No-Tsu-Oh Ball of 1905 will surpass all previous events. On this occasion the King and Queen will be crowned and revealed to the public. The ball room will be a garden spot of beauty, and when graced by the sprite-like form of the dancers, dreamland will be made a reality.

Be in Houston November 13-18, 1905. The No-Tsu-Oh carnival, (is certain to be) the greatest ever.

~ Brownsville Daily Herald, October 30, 1905. Page 1.

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“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”

Tags: No-Tsu-Oh Carnival of 1905
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In Sports, Denial is not just a River in Egypt

October 25, 2013

Denial Is not just the name of a river in Egypt.

Denial is not just the name of a river in Egypt.

It’s an old joke, but it totally fits the way professional and collegiate sports teams and programs often handle impending personnel decisions, especially when they feel pressured by both fans, plus the ink and electric press. In today’s social media world, that is merely a pressure that sports entities are under 24/7, all year, every year, and, unless your club is winning everything, it turns negative on a dime – or something like someone establishing a new record for “pick-sixes” in four consecutive games.

While he was employed as head coach of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, gypsy genius mentor Nick Saban denied up and down that he had any contact or interest in the open head coaching job at the University of Alabama. A few days later, he was signing a contract to take over the program on a contractual basis that would have taken any reasonable great one and his agent far more than 72 hours to hammer into self-absorbing shape. And now that Saban has opened the NCAA spigot on national championships in football for smiling Alabama fans, we feel certain that his original deal has since yeasted into one that better measures up to the kind of money trough that opens up to sports figures who deliver the goods in their respective marketplaces.

The 1953 Cincinnati Redlegs (who did not call themselves the “Reds” in 1953 due to the word’s association back then with communism) denied up and own the street that all their loud locker room screaming had anything to do with their unhappiness and desire to be rid of manager Rogers Hornsby, but on their way to a sixth place finish, the club fired him with seven games to go and turned over the team to interim manager Buster Mills. It was Hornsby’s last managerial stop, but like most of the others, it came about with a few “hip-hip-hooray” cheers along the “ding-dong-the-witch-is-dead” player song trail.

As far as I can tell, and I could be as wrong as rain in any recent Houston spring, Rogers Hornsby had no friends. He had no friends because nobody liked him. Nobody liked him because he never gave anyone anything to like about him as a human being. He had a Hall of Fame ability that has caused more than one pundit to describe him as the greatest right hand hitting batter in the history of the game, but that was it. When the season ended, the famous story about him sitting in a chair and staring out the window until spring training began again had another angle to it beyond his obsessive love of the game. He also stared out the window through the winter because he had no social skills or needs to be with people on any other basis. Oh, he didn’t stay by the window all the time. If there was a parimutuel horse betting operation or track nearby, you could count on The Rajah to seek it out and put it into play.

Hornsby had no need for people. He had a big need for horses that ran for the money.

Back in 1950, the late Buddy Hancken of later Houston Astros coaching service was managing in the minors away from his home in Beaumont. So, he did the right thing. He rented out his house for the season to Rogers Hornsby, who was taking over as manager of the Beaumont Exporters of the Texas League. When the season ended and Buddy returned home, several of his neighbors stopped by to welcome him home and thank him for returning. “That Rogers Hornsby fellow was the most unfriendly person I’ve ever tried to meet,” one neighbor offered.

We could write a book on the subject, but why not just have some fun here on what may be the Ten Biggest Rivers of Denial in Sports for 2013?

Here are my offerings, even if it may be months, or years in some cases, before the real lies bubble to the surface:

10) “It was never about money to me. I just loved playing the game at a high level of accomplishment.” – Alex Rodriguez, Third Base, New York Yankees.

9) “We’re very much behind the current plan to save the Astrodome. The last thing we want is to see it torn down and turned into a parking lot.” – Bob McNair, Owner, Houston Texans.

8) “The American Alliance for Mixed Martial Arts is totally in support of their new, very simple, but healthy approach to concussion-avoidance: “Beat the other guy’s brains in before he bashes in yours.” – Joe Kapzulli, Commissioner, American Alliance for Mixed Martial Arts.

7) “The Chicago Cubs are totally committed to winning the World Series in the 21st Century. We also will not reach 2108 without having won at least twice.” – Theo Epstein, General Manager, Chicago Cubs.

6) “Even if we are going through a little rough spell at 2-5, I still think that a healthy Matt Schaub is the QB who can best get us back in the winner’s circle.” – Head Coach Gary Kubiak, Houston Texans.

5) “I have no interest, nor have I had any contact with anyone about the open coaching job at USC.” – Kevin Sumlin, Head Coach, Texas A&M.

4) “Mack Brown is both a class act and great developer of talent. He is our coach for the foreseeable future.” – Chairman, UT Board of Regents.

3) “We are all going to miss Bud Selig when he retires. A fairer man never served as Commissioner of Baseball.” – Jim Crane, Owner, Houston Astros.

2) “I like the Selig rule that allows the All Star Game winner to be the determining factor in home field advantage for the World Series because it takes away the records of the teams actually competing and gives the decision over to people who most likely will have nothing to do with the actual playing of the World Series.” – Joe Baseball Fan, Anywhere, USA.

1) “I have no interest, nor have I had any contact with anyone about the open coaching job at UT.” – Art Briles, Head Coach, Baylor.

Have, a nice weekend, everybody. – TGIF!

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“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”

Tags: denial in sports
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The Great 1949 Owls Roll NC in the Cotton Bowl

October 24, 2013

The Rice Owls of 1949 were a True Bird of Prey!

The 1949 Rice Owls were a great football team, the kind of national quality team that this fine Houston university both deserves and, hopefully, will have again. Look. – If Stanford can do it, and they do, year in and year out, then so should the Owls be able to put themselves in the driver’s seat of a college club that again combines brains and athleticism for the sake of elevating Rice to that highest plane of achievement in college football.

The 1949 Owls went 10 and 1 on the year, coming within 8 points in one game against the always tough LSU Tigers of going undefeated on the season. That 14-7 loss to the Tigers came on the heels of a season-opening pasting that Rice put on Clemson, 34-7, and it was followed by a 65-o slaughter by the Owls of New Mexico State before going into a perfect romp of all their seven Southwest Conference rivals to finish their championship season at 9-1 as the reining SWC king and the designated league host of the once fabled Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Beginning with their iconic coach, Jess Neely, the 1949 Owls were names I only heard over the radio or read in the Houston Post, but they were still heroes to me as an 11-year old Houston kid. I still get chills from reading or hearing any of those familiar Owl names today.

Jess Neely. – Tobin Rote. – Billy Burkhalter. – Froggy Williams. – All American center Joe Watson. – These names lit the house for both the university then known as Rice Institute and the City of Houston back in 1949.

And here’s how Dan Shults of the Baytown Sun covered the Rice Owls’ final triumph of the 1949 season in a 27-13 victory over Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice and the North Carolina Tarheels in the Cotton Bowl on Monday, January 2, 1950:

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RICE POWER, PASSES TROUNCE TARHEELS, 27-13

North Carolina Team Outclassed by Owls

by Dan Shults

Coach Jess Neely’s machine-like Owls put on a bruising exhibition of power and arterial artistry in Dallas’ mammoth Cotton Bowl yesterday to stun the North Carolina Tarheels, 27-13, before a sellout crowd.

Rice’s blocking was superb, and by far the outstanding feature of the game. The Owls waited until mid-way to score their first touchdown, but they clearly demonstrated their superiority early in the first period, taking the opening kickoff and driving the length of the field before bogging down on the Tarheel 13.

Rice’s first touchdown was a thing of beauty, and demonstrated perfection in football. Quarterback Tobin Rote flipped a short flat pass to the hard-running Billy Burkhalter, who already had two men running interference for him, while more was forming quickly on down the field. Burkhalter took the aerial on the Tarheel 40, and the North Carolina boys began to fall like dominoes lined up in a row. There were at least five perfect downfield blocks that paved the way for Burkhalter. Joe Watson, Rice’s All America center, turned one Tarheel defender a complete flip with a vicious block. Froggy Williams kicked the extra point and the Owls led, 7-0.

Rice’s second touchdown was set up on a twisting, turning 16 yard run by Burkhalter that put the ball on the Tarheel seven. With time running out, Gordon Wyatt thundered over center for the touchdown and Williams converted to put the Owls ahead, 14-0.

The Owls scored again in the third period and early in the fourth period to lead, 27-0.

North Carolina made its two touchdowns late in the final quarter, the last coming with only 47 seconds to go. Charley Justice showed of the stuff that made him an All America, but his play was overshadowed by the hard running of teammate Billy Hayes.

The Tarheels drove 65 yards for their first TD. Only seven yards from paydirt, Justice hit Paul Rizzo on the two and he stepped over the goal.

It was Rizzo who made North Carolina’s final TD. Justice started out around his own left end, found himself trapped, and lateraled to Rizzo who went over. The play covered eight yards.

Rice’s Williams came through like a true All American, ending his brilliant career in a starring role. It was he who scored the third Rice TD on a great catch and run down the sideline.The Owls had the pigskin on the Tarheel 17 when Rote hist Williams on the 12. The fine-running end wheeled and cut for the sideline, where he tight-roped it to the goal line, shaking off one North Carolina tackler on the way.

Williams was in North Carolina’s hair during the entire game. With Rote flipping ’em, Williams caught aerials all over the field, and in addition kicked three out of four extra points.

~ Excerpt from a game coverage article by Dan Shults that appeared in the Baytown (TX) Sun on Tuesday, January 3, 1950, Page 6.

The 1950 Cotton Bowl, Dallas Texas, January 2, 1950

CATEGORIES	RICE	NORTH CAROLINA
First Downs	18`	16
Net Yards Rushing	226	174
Net Yards Passing	152	80
Total Net Yards Offense	378	254
Passes Complete/Attempt	11/19	9/22
Interceptions/Yds Return	1/27	1/0
Fumbles: Lost/Total	1/2	1/3
Punts	4	6
Average Punt Return YDS	43	38
Yards Punts Run Back	36	11
Number of Penalties	3	4
Yards Penalized	26	30
Yards Kickoffs Run Back	37	77

TEAMS	QTR 1	QTR 2	QTR 3	QTR 4	~	FINAL
RICE	0	14	7	6	~	27
UNC	0	0	0	13	~	13

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“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”

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1957: Russian Moon Creates Debate

October 23, 2013

As a sophomore undergraduate at the University of Houston when the Russians launched Sputnik on October 4, 1957, I subsequently watched a lot of my fraternity brothers and other friends transfer their majors into the basic sciences and engineering as a result of the new “gitty up-let’s go- we’re already behind the Reds-and we can’t trust the Russians” space age just dropped out of the sky upon us faster than any of us could realize that Houston was now only a few short years away from becoming home to something called “NASA” and the title-holder of the phrase, “Space City, USA”.

It all began on the foundation of everything that came to be during the Cold War relationship between our country and the U.S.S.R. – It all began in competitive distrust for each other. And for those of you who weren’t around in 1957, I cannot even begin to adequately describe our national shock, shame, disappointment, distrust, and, yes, fear – that exploded from the realization that the Russians had beaten us on the first leg as the first nation to put a satellite into space. If you can read between the relatively calm lines written by John Blakeslee, you will rub elbows with every negative emotion I’ve described here.

Just another thought for the liner facts column: Had there been no Sputnik, there might never have been a place named the Astrodome, eight years later. Sputnik set up the progression of facts that eventually led to the appointment of our new covered sports stadium as the Astrodome. Had there been no Sputnik, who knows, things may have developed differently enough to have changed everything that followed in reality.

Anyway, keep your heads up – and your spirits soaring. There’s hardly a modern technology or condition that has not come to us as a result of the once-upon-a-time space race that really got banging down the road with Sputnik. Besides, its fun to think about subjects other than baseball or football every now and then. – Those sweet subjects will always pull us back when our hunger for them always returns.

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Russian Moon Creates Debate

By Alton L. Blakeslee, Associated Press Science Reporter

New York (AP) – In its third day of life, the Russian moon is creating some trail of confusion concerning three intriguing questions:

Is Sputnik – Russian for space satellite – making some space studies, such as temperatures or space’s shooting star?

Is it telling about them in a radio code?

Will the U.S.S.R. inform other nations of what it learns in this maiden voyage into space?

Russia’s rocket scientist, Dr. A.A. Blagonravov, says Sputnik is only broadcasting radio signals so it can be tracked, and is not studying temperatures, or other events in space. And it’s not broadcasting anything in code, he adds.

But in Moscow, a prominent scientist says that Sputnik is counting hits by meteorites out in space. The moon would have to report this by some code. One possibility is that, due to language translation difficulties, this scientist was referring to future moons, not to Sputnik the First.

A Moscow broadcast says that Sputnik has provided knowledge “of great scientific value,” but gives no details. This could refer just to observations of its orbit, giving clues about air density in space, or to knowledge useful in launching and directing future moons into desired orbits.

Some U.S. scientists listening to Sputnik’s beeping signals detect changes which they say sound like a code.But they quickly add that this could be a practice test of a presently meaningless code. Codes will be essential in any future moons to radio back reports of what is learned in space, since the moons can’t land back home.

Dr. Blagronavov yesterday called Sputnik an experimental or test shot and said it was outside the International Geophysical Year (IGY).

Both nations have agreed to share fully everything their IGY moons learn.

Asked on a TV program NBC-Youth wants to know whether the Russians would share information about Sputnik, he replied:

U.S. scientists observing it can learn very useful information for launching their own satellite.

Experiences of Sputnik could help the Russians in subsequent launches and the United States with its first one.

Dr. John P. Hagen, director of the American Moon project Vanguard, said in a telephone interview that the Soviet radio signal appears to contain a code.

“It could well have no meaning other than to practice a code transmission,” he said. “This would be expected. It’s hard to tell if it represents real information.”

He explained that the 20 megacycle radio signal from Sputnik shows a series of pulses about a third of a second long, with a modulation or change in that pulse.

Dr, Blagonravov explains the variations are due to physical laws producing them as a speeding object proceeds or recedes from a given listening post.

He told IGY scientists that the moon carried only radio equipment, circuits and batteries for tracking purposes. He confirmed that Sputnik weighs 184 pounds.

U.S. scientists calculate that electronic equipment and batteries weighing this much could be packed inside Sputnik’s small size with the rest of the weight made up of iys outer shell.

~ Camden (NJ) News, October 7, 1957, Page 2.

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“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”

Tags: sputnik
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1960: Oilers Win 1st Official Game, 37-22

October 22, 2013

George Blanda (#16), QB of the 1960 Houston Oilers

The weekend of September 9-11, 1960 marked the birth of the new American Football League as the time for the eight club circuit’s first four official games. Here are a few notes to help you keep track of the teams this UPI report is actually talking about. Because of certain changes and double uses, it may be confusing to newcomers as to how these mascot names have sometimes evolved, disappeared, or mutated into favor in some other cities over time:

Boston Patriots: Boston is still good enough as an identity for the Red Sox, but not the Pats. Infected by the marketing era of trying to make each club more appealing to a larger fan base area, they later became what now are, the New England Patriots. Hmmm. Makes you wonder how the Boston Red Sox ever managed to stay popular without also becoming the New England Red Sox, doesn’t it?

Buffalo Bills: They always were. Always will be. And always remain the same old Buffalo Bills. – Now, does that all three time stations description of the Buffalo Bills also make them “God”? My guess is – “only in Buffalo”.

Dallas Texans: There’s a scent of missed irony here, among current television media people covering the 2013 NFL, at least. Maybe it’s just old news that no longer matters, but I will express it here, anyway. Last Sunday, when the Houston Texans lost 17-16 to the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs, they fell to the club that was originally known as the Dallas Texans. That is, before they moved from Dallas to Kansas City and became the Chiefs as part of the NFL-AFL war settlement.

Denver Broncos: The Broncos won the first official league game over Los Angeles on Friday, 9/09/1960. They have remained over time who they always were – the Denver Broncos.

Houston Oilers: Most of us in Houston know this one by heart. When the club deserted us in 1997, they took our identity with them to Tennessee to play briefly there as the Oilers before adopting an old New York moniker and becoming the Tennessee Titans that still are today.

New York Titans: This club has no common team history with the bunch now operating in Tennessee. They had to change their nickname for the best of reasons. – The early years performance record of the New York Titans was no better than the success mark of the great steamer Titanic. All their hitting ran them straight into business icebergs that sank the ship every season. You guessed it. – They changed their name to the New York Jets and were later saved by Joe Namath.

Los Angeles Chargers: The club eventually moved south to become the club they still are today, the San Diego Chargers.

Oakland Raiders: Theirs was the perfect identity for the “Somali Pirates” of professional football. Like Jean LaFitte too, the Raiders sometimes pulled up stakes for safer ground, but always returned to their home in the waters of Oakland. Today their middle years playing out as the Los Angeles Raiders almost seems like a bad dream that never really happened. – But it did.

In The Beginning

Now let’s take a brief look at how Houston and the others did on their first weekend of regular season play back in 1960 as the American Football League:

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Pro Football Round Up

OILERS WHIP RAIDERS, 37-22;

CHARGERS NIP TEXANS, 21-20

By United Press International

National Football League castoffs provided most of the thrills in the American Football League’s first weekend of operation, but the fans hardly knocked down the doors to watch the new pro loop’s debut.

Still, the turnout in Boston was encouraging; three of the four games were exciting, and the well-heeled and optimistic backers of the infant league were banking on the closeness of competition to help make their venture a financial as well as an artistic success.

Heavy Downpour

The New York Titans were victims of bad weather Sunday as only 9,607 (5.727 paid) turned out in a heavy downpour to see the team’s impressive victory over the Buffalo Bills, 27-3. A crowd of 12, 709 watched the Houston Oilers spoil the Oakland Raider’s first home appearance, 37-22.

At Los Angeles Saturday night, 17,724 paid to watch the home town Chargers whip the Dallas Texans, 21-20, in a battle of two of the AFL’s best teams. Boston drew the biggest house of the weekend Friday night when a crowd of 21,597 attended the Denver Broncos’ 13-10 upset victory over the Patriots.

60,000 Paid

That added up to about 60,000 paid admissions for a whole week’s schedule, but if the American Leaguers were disappointed, they didn’t show it.

“We had a bad break in the weather,” said president Harry Wismer of the Titans. “But we looked good in winning. We knew it might take a few games for the league to catch on. As the fans become aware of the close, exciting football in this league, I’m sure we (will) do better.”

NFL Refugees

George Blanda, Al Dorow, Jack Kemp, and Ben Agajanian, all refugees from the NFL, played important roles in weekend victories.

Blanda, a 12-year handyman with the Chicago Bears, passed for four touchdowns, kicked four conversions, and an 18-yard field goal in Houston’s victory over Oakland.

The outweighed Raiders gained a 7-7 halftime tie and went ahead in the third period when Ed Macon ran back a pass interception 42 yards for a TD. Blanda then passed 32 yards to Bill Groman and three yards to Johnny Carson, putting the Oilers ahead. Blanda’s field goal and an eight-yard touchdown run by Dave Smith put the game out of Oakland’s reach.

Billy Cannon, highly publicized L.S.U. All-America halfback, gained 59 yards in 12 carries for Houston.

~ excerpt from the Oxnard (CA) Press Courier, Monday, September 12, 1960, Page 9.

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Save the Dome!

“Save the Astrodome. ~ Give new life to the Eighth Wonder of the World. ~ Vote Yes on Harris County Proposition 2.”

Tags: first afl games, George Blanda
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1961: Oilers Down Chargers for 1st AFL Title

October 21, 2013

BILLY CANNON’S 88 YARD CATCH AND TD RUN ON A THROW FROM OILERS QB GEORGE BLANDA SEALED VICTORY AND WON HIM THE MVP AWARD IN THE FIRST AFL TITLE GAME PLAYED AT JEPPESEN STADIUM IN HOUSTON ON JANUARY 1, 1961.

POST-COLUMN NOTE: BUD ADAMS HAS DIED IN HOUSTON, MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013: Three hours after I made the decision to write this column on the first AFL championship win of the Houston Oilers, I received word over the radio that Houston Oilers founder and current Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams has died in Houston. It is a curious coincidence that the vibes I felt this morning to do this piece today were especially strong. I assumed that the death three days ago of former beloved Oilers coach Bum Phillips may have had something to do with it, but now it’s even more curious that old Phillips nemesis Bud Adams also died only three days after Bum. – Rest in Peace, Bud Adams.

Now it’s onto the story I must have been writing at the time of Bud Adams’s death:

We dressed differently for football games in 1961.

January 1, 1961 was a bright sky beautiful rush of blue into the new year and Houston was preparing to square off against Los Angeles for the rebel AFL’s first championship title game at Jeppesen Stadium, the venue known better in recent years as Robertson, the lately demolished old home of the Houston Cougars. Back then it was a big deal to those of us who were Houston’s new coming of age generation. Yours truly had only the night before, on New Years Eve, turned 23. I had a great entry-level job as a case worker in the human services field, a degree in psychology from UH, and plans for graduate school in the fall on a scholarship to Tulane. I also had a beautiful girl friend, one who possessed the face and form of Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, the drum-playing ability of a female Buddy Rich, an expertise in literature that extended all the way from modern comedy to the depths of Dostoyevsky. And she also dug music, sports, and me.

How I made the list of her joys, I’ll never know for sure. All I knew in 1961 is that my life was just beginning – and I was off to what felt like a good start. Sandy and I had tickets for that first Houston big league professional title game and we would not have missed it for the world. We even managed to get good seats on about the 30 yard line at the north end of the west side stands. We sat high enough to look out upon the campus of our UH alma mater – and beyond the university treetops to the general area down the Gulf Freeway road to Pecan Park where I had grown up.

I was 23. And my childhood already seemed as though it had taken place centuries earlier. A little more aging would cure my distorted depth perception on the passage of time.

Here’s how the Associated Press reported Houston’s first rare appearance and even scarcer victory in the big game:

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BLANDA SPARKS HOUSTON’S 24-16 WIN

——————–

Fists Fly as Oilers Nab Title

HOUSTON (AP) – George Blanda, an old pro who came out of retirement to join a new league, threw three (passes for) touchdowns and kicked a field goal yesterday as the Houston Oilers won the first championship of the American Football League by defeating the Los Angeles Chargers, 24-16.

Blanda, former Chicago Bears’ scoring leader, saw his passing and kicking figure in every Houston point in a game in which a flurry of fist fights led to the ejection of three players.

Houston, a one-touchdown favorite, was never headed after a 17-yard touchdown pass from Blanda to Dave Smith overcame a 6-0 lead Los Angeles built in the first quarter on a pair of field goals by Ben Agajanian.

The Oilers had to cling to a one-point margin most of the way, however, until Blanda connected with Billy Cannon, 1959 Heisman Trophy winner from Louisiana State, for an 88-yard touchdown that provided the winning margin.

Blanda’s 18-yard second period field goal, and a seven-yard touchdown pass to Bill Groman in the third,offset Agajanian’s third field goal and the Chargers lone touchdown score by Paul Lowe, the number 2 rusher in the league.

The last fight of the day broke out as Houston held (a last Chargers drive) and took over with only a minute to play. Hogan Wharton, Houston guard, was ordered from the game. Julian Spece, Houston defensive halfback, and Maury Sleicher, Los Angeles end, were ejected in the second quarter.

Cannon, with eight votes, edged Blanda and Lowe as the game’s outstanding player. Blanda and Lowe had seven points each.

… excerpt from the Phoenix Arizona Republic, January 2, 1961, Page 35.

FIRST AFL TITLE GAME, LOS ANGELES CHARGERS VS. HOUSTON OILERS,

IN HOUSTON, JANUARY 1, 1961: STATS, SCORING BY QUARTERS & PLAYERS:

1960 AFL TITLE GAME I	LA CHARGERS	HOUSTON OILERS
FIRST DOWNS	21	17
RUSHING YARDAGE	162	100
PASSING YARDAGE	171	301
TOTAL YARDAGE	333	401
PASS COMP/ATTEMPTS	21/41	16/32
INTERCEPTIONS BY	0	2
PUNTS/AVERAGE YARDS	4/41	5/34
FUMBLES LOST	0	0
YARDS PENALIZED	15	54

TEAMS	1^st QTR	2^nd QTR	3^rdQTR	4^th QTR		FINAL
CHARGERS	6	3	7	0	~	16
OILERS	0	10	7	7	~	24

SCORING BY QTR	TEAM SCORING	SCORING PLAY	SCORED BY	CHARGERS TTL SCORE	OILERS TTL SCORE
1	LA	FG – 38 YD	AGAJANIAN	3	0
1	LA	FG – 22 YD	AGAJANIAN	6	0
2	HOU	TD PASS – 17 YD	BLANDA TO SMITH	6	6
2	HOU	EX PT KICK	BLANDA	6	7
2	HOU	FG – 18 YD	BLANDA	6	10
2	LA	FG – 27	AGAJANIAN	9	10
3	HOU	TD PASS – 7 YD	BLANDA TO GROMAN	9	16
3	HOU	EX PT KICK	BLANDA	9	17
3	LA	TD RUN – 2 YD	LOWE	15	17
3	LA	EX PT KICK	AGAJANIAN	16	17
4	HOU	TD PASS – 88 YD	BLANDA TO CANNON	16	23
4	HOU	EX PT KICK	BLANDA	16	24

			FINAL	16	24
			ATTENDANCE	32,183
			VENUE	jEPPESEN	STADIUM
			GAME DATE	01/01/1961
			1^stAFL TITLE	HOUSTON	OILERS

Tags: First AFL Title Game in 1961
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Ten Years into the Selig All Star Game Plan

October 20, 2013

“COULD YOU PLEASE REPEAT THAT IN WAYS I LIKE TO HEAR?”

Before we kiss Commissioner Bud Selig goodbye and watch the baseball inside power brokers start greasing the skids for his induction into the Hall of Fame as the greatest “got-away-with-it” suckling of the game’s integrity since Hal Chase, why don’t we take a brief look at the most public example of his penchant for frittering away the idea of fair play by imperial mandate.

We now have a ten-year record of how Bud’s solution to All Star Game apathy has worked out. As no great surprise, the first decade of Selig’s All Star Game Plan has slipped by us all with hardly a mention, but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been harmful to baseball on other levels. What Selig did was throw away the idea that teams should always compete directly for any kind of advantage, runs, wins, home field, or whatever. – You simply don’t leave home field advantage in the World Series up to the league all-star team to determine who gets that leg up in the World Series to be played by some undetermined club three months later.

But he did. Bud Selig monkey wrenched the rules of fair play. Arising out of his own personal embarrassment and sense of failure in the 2002 All Star Game played in his home Miller Park in Milwaukee, Bud apparently felt he had to do something dramatic to either save the game from future apathy – or to distract people from the fact that it was his stance over how that game should be played that led to the real problem.

Here’s what happened, bare nuts: On July 9, 2002, the MLB All Star Game was played at Milwaukee’s band-spanking new Miller Park. It was an opportunity to showcase the squeaky clean and neat venue to the world – and an opportunity for Bud Selig to display himself before a world-wired television audience as one of the icons of that franchise’s 20th century history. Bud also brought with him the popular notion of that time that it was important to get all the players into the game, even on a brief token basis, if possible.

As a result, both leagues were pretty much running out of pitchers as the game rolled into the 9th inning. By the 11th inning, and the score still tied at 7-7, neither league had any remaining arms to pitch – without using position players at the risk of getting some very expensive ballplayer hurt doing something he ordinarily doesn’t do. It was time for everyone to huddle with the Commish on what to do.

Selig had little choice but to declare the first tie in All Star Game history with some kind of wide-eyed, ashen-faced promise to take steps to make sure this sort of thing never happened again. To late to help Selig personally. The time it happened, The time it happened, it happened in the park that his energy had helped to build.

Change in the actual game and how it was played was subsequently more driven by managers moving in the direction of holding players back as they would in regular league games. Selig’s big contribution to the war on all star game apathy was to attach this inappropriate reward to the winning league: Beginning in 2013, and continuing to this day, the league that wins the All Star Game also wins home field advantage in the World Series for the team from its ranks that plays in the Big Show that same year.

How fair is that? And how significant is it? And is the sort of decision-making that should be rewarded with a waltz card ticket to the Baseball Hall of Fame?

As we await the NL Cardinals and AL Red Sox in the 2013 World Series, Boston will have the home field advantage in the 2-3-2 game format, starting at Fenway Park, thanks to the 3-0 AL win back in July. It just means that, if the Series foes to 7 games that Boston will be assured of 4 home games versus only 3 for the Cardinals.

How’s it going, so far? Is there a significant relationship here between home field advantage and actually winning? The sample is to small now, but, so far, the team with home field advantage in the 10 games played by the Selig prescription has won 7 times. If that ratio holds for a century, my guess is that we would have to consider 70 wins against 30 misses as a significant result of having home field advantage.

Let The Pecan Park Eagle know your own thoughts on this particular Selig subject.

Here’s the chart:

FIRST DECADE: WORLD SERIES WINS BY CLUBS THAT GAINED HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE IN THE SUMMER ALL STAR GAME

YEAR	ALL STAR GAME W	SCORE	WORLD SERIES W	TEAM WINNER	SERIES IN GAMES	SELIG W/L TAB
2003	American	7-6	National	Marlins	4-2	0-1
2004	American	9-4	American	Red Sox	4-0	1-1
2005	American	7-5	American	White Sox	4-0	2-1
2006	American	3-2	National	Cardinals	4-1	2-2
2007	American	5-4	American	Red Sox	4-0	3-2
2008	American	4-3	National	Phillies	4-1	3-3
2009	American	4-3	American	Yankees	4-2	4-3
2010	National	3-1	National	Giants	4-1	5-3
2011	National	5-1	National	Cardinals	4-3	6-3
2012	National	8-0	National	Giants	4-0	7-3
2013	American	3-0	?	?	?	?

Have a nice Sunday, everybody! – And Good Luck to QB Case Keenum and the Houston Texans in Kansas City!

GO, CASE, GO!

Tags: Bud Selig's All Star Game Plan
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Goodbye, Bum, and God Bless!

October 19, 2013

O.A. “Bum” Phillips
Born: 9/29/23
Died: 10/18/13
Rest in Peace

His legal name was Oail Andrew Phillips, but his real name was “Bum”.

Bum. – Bum Phillips. – He just turned 90 years old on September 29, 2013. This humble native of Orange, Texas died yesterday in Goliad. That date was October 18, 2013.His son, Wade Phillips, posted the announcement of his father’s passing on Twitter, with the note: “He was a good dad, a good coach, and a good Christian.”

“Bum” was how we knew him, but “bum” was also the last thing he was in our eyes – or in actuality. Bum coached and he cared about his work in a way that went far beyond the normal call to long hours that most, if not all football coaches must put in. He really cared about his players, the fans, and people in general – and he felt very deeply the pain of disappointed Houston supporters. . And, years ago, when he couldn’t open doors for his Houston Oilers and their fans that locked away the Super Bowl berth in games that the Oilers lost in Pittsburgh in 1978 and 1979, Bum gave us this immortal line: “”Last year we knocked on the door. This year we beat on it. Next year we’re going to kick the son of a bitch in.”

Bum never got that chance in Pittsburgh. After losing in the playoffs to Oakland in 1980, Oilers owner Bud Adams simply made one of the biggest mistakes of his error-plagued life as a team owner. Adams fired Bum Phillips, ending his six-year run as Head Coach of the Houston Oilers from 1975 through 1980. Phillips had many other coaching jobs on the way up at the high school, college, and NFL assistant coaches’ level – and he also went on from Houston for a good run as Head Coach of the New Orleans Saints from 1980 through the first 12 games of the 1985 season. He quit after coaching the team through the greater part of the 1985 regular season because it was simply time to go. After New Orleans, Bum worked for a while as a radio and television football color analyst and then retired to his ranch in Goliad, Texas to raise horses and just watch football for the rest of his ride through life.

Bum Phillips was a defensive coach and his apples didn’t fall far from the tree. His only son, Wade Phillips, played defense for the University of Houston and went on to become a head coach in the NFL several times over on his way to becoming the defensive coach of the Houston Texans.

In his own time, Bum Phillips served as an assistant to some great ones at the collegiate level too. He worked for Bear Bryant at Texas A&M, Bill Yeoman at Houston, and Hayden Fry at SMU.

Bum had a way of expressing the truth that eliminated all the “yes, buts” that some people always use for the sake of establishing how right they always are. My favorite example concerns one of the choice things he once said about running back Earl Campbell. When asked if Earl Campbell was in a class by himself, Bum Phillips answered this way: “”I don’t know if he’s in a class by himself, but I do know that when that class gets together, it sure don’t take long to call the roll.”

God Bless You, Bum! Once again, there were no silly follow-up comments or ego-extensions from those who need the attention of every spotlight, even when the lights aren’t turned on in their behalf.

At the time of his death yesterday, Bum was still campaigning for funds to back the establishment of a school for deaf children at his Goliad ranch. Bum cared about people, especially kids – and we shall only hope that someone else close to this effort will pick up the torch in behalf of this last act of genuine love that was still flowing through the veins of this good man at the time of his passing.

Bum is survived by his wife, Debbie, his son, Wade and five daughters by his first marriage and nearly two dozen grandchildren.

Houston now has to mourn and say goodbye to one of its true sports icons in the next few days, but we get to keep his memory and all the love he brought into our daily lives by just walking around and breathing the air as Bum Phillips. His acts of great accomplishment and kindness were simply bonuses that also flowed naturally from the heart, mind, soul and spirit of an eloquently plain-speaking, good and decent human being.

Rest in Peace, Bum. We love you too.

Tags: The Death of Bum Phillips
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Gene Autry: Back in the Saddle Forever

October 18, 2013

Back in 1952, a lot of media pundits figured that western movies, especially those featuring “B” movie mogul stars like Gene Autry were all on their way to El Passe’ – but they were wrong – at least, for a while on the genre – and forever on the star. Here in an interview conducted and described by Bob Thomas as an AP story, Autry speaks his mind on the story. What no one, including Thomas, could see in 1952 was the fact that Gene Autry’s joy for working went way beyond making “cowboy films.” It even took a never-ending turn toward the act of owning the Los Angeles/California Angels of the American League.

Here’s how writer Bob Thomas told the part of the Gene Autry Story that he could see unfolding in the twilight of the singing cowboy star’s movie career in 1952:

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Hollywood Spotlight: Gene Autry Says TV Not Hurting Movies

By Bob Thomas

Hollywood (AP) – Gene Autry, who has made a fortune as a crooning cowpoke, is having a loud last laugh at the people who yowled when he went into television films.

Theater men protested that he would ruin himself with the film houses.

But the cowboy’s popularity in the theaters doesn’t seem to have diminished. He is currently filming “Winning the West,” one of six features he plans to make this year. He figures his audience is greatly increased because of TV.

“I’m getting a lot more mail from the big cities like Los Angeles and New York,” he said. “I never had much of a following in the big towns, because my pictures never got much of a play there. But now the big city kids see me on TV.”

Incidentally, since TV, his mail has gotten a whole lot harder to read; it now comes from a younger audience.

Autry said that western movies are in a slump.

“There have been too many big budget westerns with stars like Clark Gable, Gregory Peck, John Wayne, and Kirk Douglas,” he observed. “Naturally, this cuts into the playing time of the program westerns.

“But the program western field is better now, because it has thinned out. Roy Rogers isn’t making pictures now, nor are Tim Holt or Charlie Starrett. Now there only four regular series – myself at Columbia, Rex Allen and Rocky Lane at Republic and Johnny Mack Brown at Monogram. Bill Elliott is making some, but I don’t think it’s a series.

“But it has happened this way before,” he added. “Westerns go in cycles. One thing is always certain: Their popularity will always return.”

At present, the moneyed cowboy is making six (movie theater) features a year, 26 half-hour TV shows, a weekly radio show, four other TV series and managing his extensive financial holdings. I asked him if he ever thought of retiring as a performer.

“I suppose I ought to,” he replied. “But I’m doggoned if I don’t just like working.”

~ Charleston Daily Mail, July 2, 1952, Page 7.

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Gene Autry finally retired from making kiddie cowboy shows, but his joy for work, and the pursuit of another dream, had only just begun when he opened that other door as owner of the brand new AL Los Angeles Angels in 1961.

Sadly, Gene Autry would not live to see his Angels win their first and only World Series crown, but maybe that’s just how it has to be with some people who cannot really retire. Their dreams simply always have to remain just out of reach.

Tags: Gene Autry
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